Symbolic Complex
Seth
10/6/13
Walker Percy Essay An epiphany: a sudden realization of great truth. No piece of writing has affected me at a level even remotely close to what this essay has. In the Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy, so many fallacies of modern day society are exposed for what they truly are. I discovered that I, along with the majority of society have been letting myself be swayed hopelessly by the perceptions and expectations of others. A perfect example of this was my first thoughts of this class. All I could think about was what I would need to do to secure a high grade in the class, at whatever the cost. I came to the conclusion after reading this essay that it is not the grade, the simple one letter answer, which is valuable; it is the knowledge that I take from the class that holds the true value. For the first time in my life I am working not for the recognition of passing from all of my teachers and peers, but the recognition of learning from myself. One might argue that the grade is actually more important, that the grade is something tangible and that it is the only thing that can give my blood sweat and tears that were shed in this class a purpose. College recruiters only see these grades and not the level of true learning I experienced. Percy addresses this issue with an example involving a Midwestern couple travelling to Mexico in search of an authentic experience, but for all the wrong reasons. The couple ventures to a secluded Mexican village and decides that the village is the authentic Mexican experience. Instead of being content with this, the couple seeks out their ethnologist friend, and explains to him the experience as if to certify that it was truly authentic. Percy says: “They wanted him, not to share their experience, but to certify their experience as genuine” (Percy 27). In a broad spectrum, Percy is trying to say that the opinions and judgments of others can greatly affect the way you interpret different experiences if you
10/6/13
Walker Percy Essay An epiphany: a sudden realization of great truth. No piece of writing has affected me at a level even remotely close to what this essay has. In the Loss of the Creature by Walker Percy, so many fallacies of modern day society are exposed for what they truly are. I discovered that I, along with the majority of society have been letting myself be swayed hopelessly by the perceptions and expectations of others. A perfect example of this was my first thoughts of this class. All I could think about was what I would need to do to secure a high grade in the class, at whatever the cost. I came to the conclusion after reading this essay that it is not the grade, the simple one letter answer, which is valuable; it is the knowledge that I take from the class that holds the true value. For the first time in my life I am working not for the recognition of passing from all of my teachers and peers, but the recognition of learning from myself. One might argue that the grade is actually more important, that the grade is something tangible and that it is the only thing that can give my blood sweat and tears that were shed in this class a purpose. College recruiters only see these grades and not the level of true learning I experienced. Percy addresses this issue with an example involving a Midwestern couple travelling to Mexico in search of an authentic experience, but for all the wrong reasons. The couple ventures to a secluded Mexican village and decides that the village is the authentic Mexican experience. Instead of being content with this, the couple seeks out their ethnologist friend, and explains to him the experience as if to certify that it was truly authentic. Percy says: “They wanted him, not to share their experience, but to certify their experience as genuine” (Percy 27). In a broad spectrum, Percy is trying to say that the opinions and judgments of others can greatly affect the way you interpret different experiences if you